Investing.com – Australia equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Energy sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.53% to hit a new 1-month low.
The biggest gainers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Resolute Mining Ltd (AX:RSG), which rose 5.16% or 0.088 points to trade at 1.782 at the close. Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) added 5.08% or 0.060 points to end at 1.240 and Independence Group NL (AX:IGO) was up 2.41% or 0.100 points to 4.250 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Ardent Leisure Group (AX:AAD), which lost 22.48% or 0.580 points to trade at 2.000 in late trade. Blackmores Ltd (AX:BKL) declined 6.44% or 7.180 points to end at 104.260 and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (AX:CWY) shed 6.33% or 0.078 points to 1.147.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 731 to 341 and 305 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 12.30% to 14.686.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.17% or 2.15 to $1275.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 1.38% or 0.69 to hit $49.27 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 1.24% or 0.63 to trade at $50.16 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.54% to 0.7687, while AUD/JPY rose 0.63% to 80.19.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.07% at 98.76.